Happy New Year
Tomorrow is the start of another year, and personally I hope it’s a better one than the one just gone. It has been a very tough year for myself and my family, and I’m looking forward to a new one.
Today is also our 4th Anniversary of living in New Zealand. We arrived on the 31st December 2004, and celebrated our first New Years Eve as residents in Aotea Square in Auckland. There was an amazing atmosphere; it was just like a really big party, and everyone seemed to be in such a good mood. I remember a group of young lads standing next to us actually wishing us a happy new year when the fireworks went off. It was a real moment of difference between life here and in the UK.
The very next day, our first full day as residents, I did the Skyjump; off Auckland’s Skytower. I made a decision that I would start my new life here as I meant to go on, and to not let fear of doing something stop me. I can honestly say I have NEVER been so scared as when I walked out onto the ledge at the top of the tower. It took two attempts for the guy at the top to tell me to jump! But jump I did, and I’m really glad I did. Emigrating itself was a – truly terrifying experience for me – I’m such a homebody, and I always loved living in the Herefordshire countryside. So to give that up, to give up being close to my family, even for just a few years, was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I figured next to that – jumping off a perfectly serviceable building couldn’t be that hard!
Of course – then I decide to turn 18 months of forum posts into a book and sell it. Now I REALLY know the meaning of the word terror. But ho hum – it’s just another leap of another building. I’m pretty scared – but I’m doing it anyway.
That was actually our second New Years Eve celebration in New Zealand. We spent our honeymoon here, and were in Dunedin for New Year. We had a lovely meal at Corstophine house, and then went up into the Octagon for the party and fireworks.
These New Year events are very much family affairs, and generally Alcohol is banned, so there is almost no agro (at least not in our experience).
We will probably have a very quiet New Year, and not head into Wellington city for the celebrations. I fully intend getting up at a reasonable hour on New Years day and heading to the beach to do absolutely nothing except swim, laze around and be amazed that we live here.
Happy New Year – I hope it’s agood one for you.
Helen
Book Update – less than a week to go.
The book is ready and waiting, and we will start taking orders from the 4th January (yes – I know it’s a Sunday – but for those in the UK it means it will be Monday for me!)
It’s been a very long three years in the process of this book coming about. From the time I started answering questions on the ENZ forum, to compiling the “Avalon’s Money Thread” two years ago, to spending the last 2 years doing an awful lot more research and working out how to publish a book. It has been one helluva ride.
There have a lot of ups and a couple of downs, but I’ve done it. On the whole I have had tremendous support from a lot of people, and an awful lot of help along the way.
The only fly in the ointment is that the E-Book version is not yet ready. It was supposed to be – but the publishers shut down for Christmas a bit early, and I didn’t get it before they closed. But I will be chasing them up as soon as they open on the 5th.
So, what do you do if you actually want to buy this fabulous book that I’ve slaved for the past three years over????
Well, head to avalonsguide.com.
From the 4th January we will have the Paypal Buy Now buttons working, and you will be able to order with a Paypal account or credit card. Books will be posted the following day in padded a5 plastic envelopes, and the price you pay includes postage. We have sent a couple of test books, and the envelopes provided by NZ post protect the book perfectly.
You will also find a link on the page to the HiFX Currency Converter, so you can see how much this is going to cost in your home currency.
If you live somewhere vaguely nearby and want to save on postage, then email me through the contact us page and we will arrange to meet and drop off a copy.
I hope if you choose to buy Avalon’s Guide, that you will get a lot of benefit out of it, and that you really enjoy reading it!
A Merry Kiwi Christmas.
Here’s hoping everyone had a very merry Christmas, and Santa’s elves bought everything you wanted and you had a fantastic time.
For us, we had a subdued one, as my family is still back in the UK this year, and this is out first Kiwi Christmas without them.
I have to be honest – I find Christmas in New Zealand to be a very odd time. I love Christmas; the lights, the fun, buying pressies for people, making way too much gorgeous food and not having to give a stuff about whether its healthy or not; and spending some time with the family. It was always the one time of year when we got spoiled rotten, and somehow, my brother and I always ended up with the coolest presents (mostly ray guns with lost of flashing lights and cool sound effects).
The problems I have here stem simply from the fact that it’s summer – and a hot one at that here in the Wairarapa. People still have Christmas trees with the lights; but who sees them when it doesn’t go dark till 9pm. And we don’t get the whole lights thing in the towns either – for that real Christmassy Late-night-shopping feel. I really miss the Worcester Christmas market, the mulled wine – and for some utterly bizarre reason – the cold weather.
I also seem to have a lot of problems with the whole Christmas dinner thing. I love cooking it – but here it seems to be an absolute nightmare getting hold of a fresh (unfrozen) turkey that actually is turkey. I didn’t do it this year, as there was only myself and hubby to cook for, and I have to say it was a nice change from having to go to Moore Wilsons to order a turkey and be old very snottily that they never order turkeys. They do – every year. And every year on the 22nd or 23rd of December they call us to tell us the turkey we couldn’t order is in! I have no idea why they get so snooty about it – they are fantastic the rest of the year! You know – I was once told by a guy in Meat on Tory in Wellington (a “butchers” selling top end (read expensive) meat for people in the city who really don’t want to cook, that it is impossible to get a fresh turkey at Christmas ANYWHERE in the world. I kid you not. I was gob smacked. I also found out that Tegel Turkeys (the main brand of frozen Turkey) is only 85% turkey. (15% water and sugar).
Many Kiwis seem to have Ham for dinner, or just do a barbie. I still like a British Christmas dinner, when I can treat myself to things I don’t normally eat (Like crunchy roast potatoes, and bread sauce).
We have made some new Traditions for the family since moving here. Christmas dinner is now at 4 or 5pm, so its cool enough to sit outside, and on Boxing Day – we head to the beach. Riversdale Beach has 2 busy days of the year – Boxing Day and new Years day, but its still almost empty by UK standards. We pack up a picnic of leftovers in the chilly bin, and head off for a day of lazing, reading books, and swimming. Its bizarre – but – we try our best .
There are too many migrants who get their knickers in a twist over those of us who struggle to adapt to the Kiwi Christmas. Or anything else for that matter. But you know what? It really doesn’t matter. I’m probably never going to enjoy Christmas here the same way I did back in The UK. I’m probably always going to prefer a winter Christmas, but that doesn’t mean I am any less entitled to live a new life here in New Zealand. It doesn’t mean I’m a “bad migrant”, and it doesn’t mean I have failed to integrate into my new life. It just means I prefer a winter Christmas. I will never understand why some people insist you have to like anything and everything your new life throws at you in order to be considered a successful migrant.
Trust me – you don’t. Preferring a winter Christmas doesn’t stop me hitting the beach for our Boxing Day Picnic, or jumping in the pool while I’m waiting for the (fresh) Turkey to cook.
We have nothing left to do this Christmas except relax, head to the beach a few times, and wait for the New Year.
Hope you have a good one.
Kiwi Ingenuity – make a cool sunlounger out of a bath.
Filed under: Beaches in New Zealand, Life in New Zealand
This is, as most people know, a very “outdoorsy” country. Well, I’m not one for tramping round the forests and lakes thanks, but I do spend much more time outdoors than I did back in the UK.
I’ve spent ages looking for some sunloungers to go round the pool, that don’t cost a small fortune. I managed to find one last year in the sales but it still cost over $200, and it’s pretty basic. Most of the ones I looked at and liked were well over $500 each.
So what do you do? You hit Trade Me!
Where I found this incredible idea for a sun lounger – made out of the same materials that you make baths with. 
These are made by Classic Baths in Taupo.
SO, we ordered some, and toddled off to Taupo to pick them up in a Friends MPV. (We were going to hire a van, but a local company claiming on the internet that their prices were from $60+ daily wanted to charge a whopping $300+ – so I told ‘em how unimpressed I was!)
Well, it’s a good 5-hour drive to Taupo, and then you have to get back – so It needed to be worth it. And as we headed over the Desert Road – a not-quite-desert-like-torrential downpour started. It didn’t stop till we got to Taupo.
After we collected the loungers (for reference – you could fit 6 in the back of an MPV quite nicely), we headed back, and stopped near the shores of Lake Taupo at a small beach picnic spot. We opened the back of the van, and had it open to the lake, and then gave the Loungers a bit of a try out. And I can happily report that they are very comfortable. I actually managed to curl up in one and fall asleep.
The loungers retail at $395 each, and I have to say – they are well worth the money. They were also worth the 12 hours it took us in the end to pick them up and bring them home. I drank a huge amount of coffee to keep going I can tell you.
They giveth with one hand – and snatch it right back with the other one.
Filed under: General Budgeting, Getting to New Zealand, Jobs & Work
Taxes are going down. Yay! Well, you at least got the good news first.
Unfortunately – there’s also some bad news to go with it. ACC contributions are going up at the same time.
Huh? Well, ACC stands for the Accident Compensation Commission, and they add a small percentage to the tax you pay to cover – well – compensation that is paid out for accident victims.
The rate is going up from 1.4% to 1.7% in April next year, and it is paid along with your PAYE tax. You just need to add that into your calculations that I showed you in the last blog. It means that the top tax rate of 38% actually works out at you paying 39.7%. The difference between paying 1.4% and 1.7% works out at you losing $18.75 a month on a $75,000 salary.
You are still going to get a tax cut – just not as much. It’s also better than a smack in the mouth I guess, but I do wish they wouldn’t drop taxes one second and raise them the next.
Still, New Zealand taxes are lower than UK taxes, and 1.7% for ACC is still a whole lot better than 11% National Insurance.
Once the figures are finalised – they will be added into the updated Inland Revenue calculators – so you will be able to see exactly what your take home pay is going to be. These calculators will also be updated to take into account the new Kiwisaver options of a 2% contribution. Until then – you have to work it out the hard way – and just add 1.7% to each of the tax bands.
Lower taxes come to New Zealand
Filed under: General Budgeting, Jobs & Work, Life in New Zealand
As well as changes to Kiwisaver, we also got brand new tax rates this week. This was also passed by the new government under the “urgency” rules in the same way that the Kiwisaver changes were. That basically means it got rammed through parliament so fast no one could argue about it even if they wanted to.
So, what are the new rates – and what does it mean if you want to move here, or indeed already live here.
Well, in order to actually find the rates – I again had to dig into the very boring government document. There have been loads of articles about the cuts, but none of them actually specified what the new rates were. Not entirely helpful.
So, here they are.
Now its fair to say that the previous government were also reducing the tax we had to pay – but not by as much. And unfortunately – there is still no Tax Free allowance like we get in the UK. So Children do still have to pay tax on any earnings – including interest, as do the lowest wage earners. And with these changes coming in – the bottom tax band isn’t changing any further, so the main beneficiaries will be the middle and higher income earners.
That’s probably good news for most Skilled Migrants. And hey – I’m personally up for paying less tax.
Unfortunately – the Inland Revenue website doesn’t have the new rates up in its calculators, so until they do you have to work out your proposed salary by hand.
How do you do that? Lets assume you are looking at a job offer of $75,000 (which is the salary I’ve been using in the book for illustration).
Which is a about $170 more a month in your pocket that you would get now! Don’t spend it all at once – just remember to re-jig your budgets to take account of the extra when it arrives.
Just bear in mind that this is a rough calculation and it doesn’t include your ACC levy. More about that later.
Kiwisaver Changes – Arggghhhh
Filed under: General Budgeting, Jobs & Work, Life in New Zealand, Property & General Investing, Retirement, Pensions and Kiwisaver, The Book and Website
I’m so glad that I made a disclaimer in my book about the need to be aware of things like taxes changing –it seems- at the drop of a hat right now.
No sooner had I agreed on the final edit of the book – Wham – the new government brings in new Tax Rates – and even worse – new Kiwisaver rules.
So – what is the deal – and what does it mean for everyone who lives or wants to live in New Zealand.
Firstly Kiwisaver. As of April 2009 – you will be able to contribute a minimum of 2% of your gross salary, instead of the current minimum of 4%. For many people – this is actually good news – as it means you will not be losing 5.6% of your take home pay if you want to join Kiwisaver. You still lose more than 2% – but hey – it’s going in the right direction for some people. It should actually mean that more people choose to join Kiwisaver because it won’t now hit their pockets so much. As someone who was new to saving money for the future – it is a big hit to lose 5%+ of your pay cheque.
(You can read “What Is Kiwisaver” in Avalon’s Guide to find out about how much you really pay into Kiwisaver).
On the other hand – this now means that people need to earn a minimum of $52,000 a year in order to be able to contribute 2% of their salary and still get the Maximum $20 a week tax credit. Under the old rules – People earning just $26,000 a year would get the maximum as 4% of $26,000 gives the same weekly contribution as 2% of $52,000.
However – the government has said that it will match any contributions for people affected by this on a $ for $ basis. This means that someone earning $26,000 and contributing 2% will be paying $10 a week into Kiwisaver. They will only get $10 a week tax credit from the government. So the government has now said (if I’ve read the very boring blurb correctly), that if the person earning $26,000 chooses to pay more than 2% – the government will also pay more – up to the maximum of $1043 a year.
On the other hand – the new rules also mean you lose the $40 a year fee subsidy, so now you have to pay all your fees yourself. Do make sure you read the (usually rather dull) investment statement you should get when you are looking at providers to find out how much you have to stump up. I actually don’t think the $40 would make a huge difference anyway.
Also, employer’s mandatory contributions are now topped at 2%, and they lose their $20 a week tax credit to help fund it.
So – why are these changes happening? Well, it appears that when you look at who joins Kiwisaver – there is a huge difference in take up when you hit the $50,000 salary bracket – with people earning less than that not joining. These changes are designed to encourage people earning less than that to join up by not requiring them to lose as much of their take home pay. I know I have friends who would join – but felt that they could not manage that kind of contribution. Some financial advisors have found the same with their clients.
It should in theory allow lower income workers to start saving something – which has to be better than having no savings at all. Time will tell if this really works.
Bear in mind that all the calculators do not show these new rates yet, and that you can still choose to contribute 4% or 8% of you wish.
I’ll save the Tax Rate changes for another Blog – too much in one can hit might have you all running away screaming.
Move to New Zealand – and get a Swimming Pool.
One of the most amazing things about our life in New Zealand is that we now have a chance to own a pool. Not only could we afford a house with a pool – we also have the most fantastic summer weather in which to use it.
Only – never having had a pool before – we didn’t have the faintest idea how to look after it – and within a few short weeks of moving out – our beautiful crystal blue pool had turned a disgusting shade of pond-scum-green.
So here is what we SHOULD have known – but didn’t.
1. The filter on the pool should be run at least 8-12 hours every day.
We have ours on a timer for 8 hours at night.
2. Run the filter for about 1/2 hour after adding any chemicals.
3. You should backwash the filter every few days or at least once a week.
This cleans the filter and the water goes to waste (usually somewhere in the garden).
4. Do NOT backwash the pool for 3 hours!
Usually a few seconds is all that is needed (depending on the filter – there should be a “sight glass” – on ours it’s near the back of the filter near the handle – when backwashing you will see water running through it and it goes from mucky to clear – that means the filter is clean)
Backwashing for a long time leaves the water level low and air gets sucked into the filter. This is bad.
5. Make sure you have the following:
A vacuum (we have an automatic one and a manual broom type – I really only use the manual one),
A leaf rake for getting crud off the bottom
A skimmer sieve for getting crud off the surface.
You only really need to vacuum when there is dirt on the bottom
6. Running a hose and pointing it in the corners is a good way of dislodging dirt from areas that the vacuum can’t reach.
We have a “patent pending” devise to make this easier – we taped the hose to a broom handle so we could direct the flow.
7. When the filter is on – if you gear a “gurgling” noise – that means you need to add more water to the pool.
8. Using a Floatron cuts down on the amount of chlorine you need.
A floatron is a solar powered device that sits in the pool and produces copper ions. Having copper ions in the pool stops algae from growing, and keeps the water clean. I was very sceptical about this – but I’ve now had one for 2 years and it really does work brilliantly. You need to clean the floatron every so often to remove build up, but it’s pretty easy.
9. Salt water pools still chlorinate
Bottom line – you have to have the same amount of free chlorine in the pool whether you use “Chlorine” or salt.
10. If your pool smells of Chlorine – it doesn’t have enough chlorine in it.
The smell comes from Chloramines – not free chlorine, which is the disinfectant. If you have enough free chlorine – chloramines don’t form, and you don’t get the smell.
11. Get a pool cover and a roller for it.
Pool covers do 3 main things:
They keep the pool temperature a few degrees warmer.
They cut down on evaporation from the pool so you need fewer tops up in summer (which is a must if like us you rely on tank water in a drought area)
They also stop quite a lot of debris from entering the pool.
12. You have to balance 4 different chemical reactions in the pool.
PH, Total Alkalinity, Chlorine and Cyanuric acid.
If you are worried about the effect of swimming on your hair – then make sure the pH and alkalinity are at the correct levels.
Cyanuric acid is there to help stabilise the chlorine (sunlight breaks down the chlorine without it and makes it useless).
If you use a floatron – you need a lot less chlorine in the pool – but you do need some.
You can get dipsticks that tell you the levels of all 4 chemicals in the pool within 15 seconds.
13. Find yourself a friendly pool supply shop.
When I first moved in to our house – I found that the local pool shop was invaluable in helping me learn the ropes. And they didn’t once laugh at me when I turned up saying my pool had turned green.
14. If your pool turns green don’t panic.
It’s easy to fix – you just add a packet of “Shock Treatment Chlorine” and run the pump for 24 hours. Then add some Algaecide and run the pump for another 24 hours. You will probably need to do a big Hoover and lots of backwashing – but that’s about it.
15. You can winterise the pool.
This basically means adding a bottle of winteriser to the pool when you know you won’t be using it for a long time.
Winteriser basically dumps a whole lot of copper ions into the pool to stop algae growing. You probably don’t need this if you use a floatron.
16. Floatrons don’t seem to work quite so well if you use them with a cover in place.
Basically this means that over winter – you just need to pull the cover of and check the pool occasionally. I have found it best to leave the cover off over winter and then the Floatron works perfectly. I just put the cover back on at the start of October to warm the pool up, ready for the summer.
17. If you have plants around the pool – take them out.
Plants near a pool are your enemy. They dump leaves, seeds and petals into the water – which you have to get out and it adds to the work tremendously. If you want plants near the pool – choose plants like Aloes and Agarves which don’t dump stuff into the pool. (Roses and Flax are especially bad!)
18. Maintaining and looking after a pool is really not that hard.
I possibly spend about 15 minutes a week looking after the pool. A quick check of the chemical levels – adding some chemicals if they are needed, and a Hoover every few weeks and we are done. I spend a lot more time IN the pool having fun.
Three Month probation for new employees comes to New Zealand.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Jobs & Work, Life in New Zealand
Up until now, when you start a job in New Zealand, your employer has no automatic right to get rid of you in the first three months if they don’t think you fit, or don’t think you do a good job.
Now, with a new Government in place and acting REALLY fast – the Employment Relations Amendment Act law they proposed has been passed.
The law brings New Zealand into line with many other countries – including the UK. While many Kiwis are shocked and horrified at the thought of a “you can be sacked without notice in 90 days” rule – I guess it’s something many of us are quite used to. It’s been touted by opponents as “ Hired by Christmas, fired by Easter” – but I have to say – I’ve never been fired from any job I’ve had – and they all had 3 month probation periods.
Change is coming thick and fast to New Zealand right now – so it pays to keep up to date if you are thinking of moving here.
But what does it mean for Migrants? Do you need to worry about it?
Other than any changes immigration may make to the rules – it really shouldn’t make much of a difference to you. Ok – so now you are able to lose your job within the first three months – whereas before – your new employer could not get rid of you if you failed to impress. But hey – you weren’t thinking of slacking off anyway were you?
What we do need to keep an eye out for is something that NZIS put on some visas – a Section 18a Condition. This is something you get if your application for residency involved a job offer. Section 18a says that you have to remain in the job for 3 months before your residency is finalised. I can see the new probation law could potentially cause a bit of a hiccup here. If the worst came to the worst – section 18a allows you to get another job of a similar nature – and because by then you will be in the country – you will find it a lot easier to pick up a new one.
So- keep checking the NZIS website for news. Don’t expect any soon, and honestly – don’t worry too much about it. So many things are changing so fast in New Zealand at the moment – and if you let it distract you from your dream – your head will explode.
Herceptin funding – Now 12 months treatment paid for.
I wrote briefly about this situation in the book, and mentioned the book Cover Your Breasts by Alison Renfrew. The problem is, that many cancer treatments are not covered by the public health service – or by Private Medical insurance. So when considering your emigration to New Zealand – it pays to also make a serious consideration about having some decent Trauma Insurance – that will pay out large sums of money to cover these treatments.
Use this site to click daily – and fund free mammograms.
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